Forces of Nature
by Tiny21Dancer
Summary: Borra Week 2013. K for now, but the rating may increase in the future.


_Journey_. Moon Dance. Adrift. "I still love you". Steampunk. Bloom. Feast.

**AN:** Here we go. As always, things are published first on my Tumblr and then here. Even though no one uses FF anymore. Personally, I prefer the organization here to AO3, but I digress.

Modern day AU where Bolin and Korra are Internet friends/e-mail pen pals.

* * *

Korra crosses her right leg over her left. It's uncomfortable. Switch. Still uncomfortable. Her foot jiggles, her fingers twist in her lap. Is it hot in here? It must be getting hotter. She is on an airplane, after all. Her face is sticky with sweat and her hair has long since frizzed beyond control around her face. She wrestles it into braids for some semblance of control. The thirty something man in the expensive suit sitting next to Korra expresses his irritation with a crisp exhale through his nose while he flips the page of his newspaper. Stuffy businessman with stuffy business to attend to. She's finding it hard to care.

How long have they been circling above the airport?

She grits her teeth and glances out the small window while another bead of nervous perspiration rolls down her face. So much for looking presentable. It's not like Bolin even knows what she looks like and has some kind of expectation, honestly.

Her heart jumps into her throat. Does he?

No, no. Can't dwell on thoughts like that. He doesn't care what she looks like, he fell for _her_, the plain Jane girl from all the way in middle-of-nowhere Arctic Circle Alaska, the girl with stupid hobbies and stupider jokes. Bolin loves her no matter what she looks like - he'd have to, right, to buy her a plane ticket all the way to North Carolina to finally meet him?

She certainly hopes so.

It's not like she even suggested this - he did, for their one year anniversary. It's almost laughable how they talked online and texted for close to three years, dancing around the subject of their feelings for each other, before Bolin's older brother actually called her and spilled the beans. Dating for a year, and she still doesn't know what his face looks like. Something about webcam issues. But last month he sent her an e-mail containing her travel information out of nowhere and instructed her to dress light.

Dressing light is hardly in her vocabulary, but she hopes the clothes she has on fit the bill.

The plane is landing. It's getting lower. On the runway. Towards the terminal. Her stomach clenches. Now is not the time to get sick.

Don't get stressed. She's only meeting the love of her life face to face for the very first time.

Korra takes a deep breath, thinking back on all the fond memories they've made together with little more than an Internet connection and a keyboard, and gets off the plane. Truth be told, she's never seen such a busy terminal, but she knows her way around from the few business trips her father's taken her on. She makes her way straight to baggage claim and grabs her simple blue duffel after waiting what seems eons. Rare stroke of pure luck that she was able to get it within an hour.

Why hasn't he called her?

Korra anxiously taps her phone and checks the time; the flight arrived earlier than expected, but hasn't the difference been made up in the time she's wasted dillydallying here?

Almost on cue, the phone starts to buzz.

Incoming call from Bolin. She can't hit answer fast enough.

"Hey!" she chirps into the phone, trying not to sound as mildly panicked as she feels.

"Hey," Bolin answers, his familiar, earthy voice almost instantly soothing her nerves. Why was she so anxious again. "You're here, right? I don't… I'm gonna need your help to find you."

She laughs awkwardly. "Yeah, I bet. Um, I'm near baggage claim. I've got the blue bag. My hair is in braids. I'm a brunette, by the way."

"Good to know," he chuckles, and her knees are three seconds from giving out. "Say, Miss Korra… what are you wearing?"

"I say!" Korra gasps, trying out her best English accent and failing miserably. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were getting fresh with me!"

He has a booming laugh that comes clearly through the speaker, but she could swear she heard it coming from the crowd… she glances to her left and right. Nobody talking on a cell phone.

She can practically hear the smirk in his voice. "Perhaps I am. But you don't happen to be wearing a green dress, with flowers, do you?"

Her mouth goes dry. "H-how did you know?"

"Take a guess."

She frantically searches the throngs of people.

"God damn it, Bolin! Where are you?"

"Try turning around."

Her heart stops while she pivots on her heel and sees Bolin's face for the first time. Well, she sees black hair and pale skin on a boy that must be twice her size, but she doesn't have time to process much more than that before she's tossing her duffel aside and running, and she knows he's the right one when he smiles a smile bigger than the sun and opens up his arms, and she doesn't care that this is the most cliche rom com scene in history because he's here, he's real, she's touching Bolin and he's touching her and-

"Korra."

With a start, she realizes she's been tucked against him for God knows how long, and people are staring. Korra flushes and forces herself to back out of his warm embrace a bit (she fits so perfectly into his arms, she nearly sighs) and looks up at him.

Bolin doesn't have the masculine, chiseled face she imagined. He has soft, baby cheeks, a button nose, the most brilliant green eyes she's ever seen in her life, and looks so much more perfect than anything she could've dreamed up. He towers over her by a good seven or more inches, with shoulders broad as a mountain and a chest just as solid.

He takes a long, long few minutes to drink her in. Gone is her self consciousness about her frizzy braids, or her tummy pudge, or the size of her breasts or the color of her teeth or_anything_. Bolin's gaze has a way of making her feel absolutely perfect as he sees every last inch of her.

"You're beautiful."

He nearly whispers it, but it's all the prompting Korra needs to stand on her toes, grab his collar, and pull him down for the first of many, many kisses.


End file.
